Marlborough zoning rules changed to screen out unpopular businesses
By Doug Grindle Community Reporter

Marlborough - Marlborough City Councilors passed a measure designed to protect the city against unwanted businesses at a meeting of the Urban Aff airs Committee Nov.19.

The measure passed the committee and then was passed by the full council about an hour later.

The measure would make it more difficult for some kinds of businesses to open in the city without special city approval. Councilors said casinos and wind farms, for example, would now be excluded without specific city approval.

The change is necessary because of "all the discussion about the possibility of a casino coming into the city," City Council President Arthur Vigeant said.

"This isn't saying we're not supporting or rejecting any casino that would come in," he continued. "All this is an insurance policy that we would have a chance to look at it."

Councilors said the rule would prevent operators of large businesses from establishing themselves in the city without the city first deciding if it wanted the business or not. Under the existing language, a business may have had a legal right to move in with or without the specific approval of the city, said councilors.

"I just don't want to put our legal staff of four against a casino's legal staff ," Vigeant said.

Although casinos were mentioned a number of times in the discussion, councilors said the change is not aimed at any one type of business.

"The way it has been written is not casino specific," Ward 3 Councilor Scott Schafer said. "I don't like calling this a casinospecific zoning ordinance."

At-Large Councilor Patricia Pope agreed.

"This is similar to what happened when the mall came to town," she said.

The measure would change the current Zoning Ordinance Chapter 200-16, and prohibit businesses from being created in the city which are not already spelled out in the ordinance. The change refers specifically to section 200-17 of the ordinance, which is a master table that lays out which type of business or structure is allowed on which type of land.

Under the change, any business not mentioned in that table would need special permission to come to Marlborough. The only exception to the new rule would be where other ordinances already allow the activity.

"Is a wholesale office allowed in a rural residential [zone]?" Schafer said. "No."

Businesses would need to apply to the city before moving in.

"They would have to come in and ask for an ordinance change through the council," said Ward 6 Councilor Edward Clancy.

Vigeant agreed.

"They would have to add that language to the current ordinance," he said.

After the Urban Affairs committee voted to pass the change, the city council suspended its rules, which require a 2-week delay in making a full vote in the city council, and instead voted promptly to approve the change.

A letter from the Marlborough Planning Board was presented to the committee and council, which noted the board had also voted to change the ordinance.

Pope said she was pleased the planning board had also voted for the change.

"I am thrilled they did," said Pope. "It's really putting another safety net into place."

Zoning ordinances come also under the purview of both the council and the planning board, and both bodies needed to give assent to any change, Pope said.